Hope Mohr’s Manifesting was one of the best dance
theater works that I have seen in a long time. Not only is it a smart, witty
and complex marriage of movement, music (by Beth Wilmurt), text and design, it
is highly entertaining and engages the viewer from beginning to end. And
achieving both of these goals matters. As such, Manifesting is quite an important addition to the oeuvre of dance
theater. In the program notes, Mohr shares that this new piece is “inspired by
artist manifestos…” and to that end, Mohr has crafted a distinct container to
explore the creative mind and its process - what drives it, what it wants, what
it rejects, what it chooses, what it discards and what it ruminates on.

Folding tables were
arranged in a C-formation on the stage; mikes, masks, papers and books layered
on each. The scene reminded of a table read for a play, a space for a cast to
workshop ideas and material. And workshop they did. They challenged and
revealed themes of viewership, expectation and judgment; they posed internal and
external questions of themselves and their work; they donned animal masks (by
Tiffany Amundson) and recited excerpts from iconic artist manifestos, including
Yvonne Rainer’s 1965 ‘no manifesto’. All in an effort to crystallize their own
creative desire. But in true dance theater fashion, there was no resolution to
the story, and that was wonderful. Manifesting
allowed its audience to glimpse and witness an active process, unfolding over a
specific period of time and in this particular space.

Compositional devices of
accumulation, repetition, appropriation and development factored strongly in Manifesting. As did a dynamic interplay
between the performers – combative/competitive in one moment and
supportive/intimate in another. The movement vocabulary had a similar breadth
and diversity, ranging from compulsive athleticism to primal physicality. This,
combined with the masks, provoked an interesting comment on the space between
the animalistic and the cerebral. And the music definitely deserves special
mention. Wilmurt took us on a stylistic journey from chant to swing to musical
theater, and the company delivered at every turn with their phenomenal vocal
performance.

On the other side of the
spectrum sits Mohr’s Stay (2015), a
non-narrative choreographic response to Francis Bacon’s paintings. In vast
contrast to Manifesting, the stage
was open and uncluttered with bright blue flats and mobile neon green arrows.
Onto this landscape Mohr created an array of evolving physical architecture as
bodies shifted in and out of a series of image-based scenes. While Stay is certainly not story-based, to
say it is completely abstract doesn’t feel quite right either. Because there
was tangible emotion, and identifiable moods at play. Tender motifs, like when
James Graham’s foot gently caressed Parker Murphy’s cheek. Or the more dark and
foreboding atmosphere of dancers appearing to devour each other’s hands.

For me, the most
intriguing aspect of Stay was the
dancers’ roles in the various vignettes. How Mohr injected active and passive
participants in much of the staging. And how that structural intention changed
the imagery and the visual perspective. Stay
is also a very technically demanding, dance-filled work. Balances held in complicated
off-center positions, extensions beginning when the body is upside-down. The
talented cast communicated this challenging choreography with acuity and
fervor.

Stay
was an encore from last year, so I completely understand why it closed the
program. World premiere first, returning piece second. But with the nature of
each individual work, it seemed that the reverse order would have made more
sense.